Solid-state lighting is becoming increasingly important in the lighting industry. Solid-state lighting refers to a type of lighting that uses semiconductor light-emitting diodes, organic light-emitting diodes, or polymer light-emitting diodes as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments, plasma (used in arc lamps such as fluorescent lamps), or gas.
Various implementations of light-emitting diode lighting fixtures are becoming available in the marketplace to fill a wide range of applications. Such different lighting application in which light-emitting diodes can be used include domestic lighting, billboard and display lighting, automotive and bicycle lighting, emergency lighting, traffic and railway lighting, and floodlight and flashlight use. Light-emitting diodes are smaller than incandescent bulbs and use less energy. In addition, light-emitting diodes have a longer life than standard incandescent light bulbs. Accordingly, the use of light-emitting diodes in lighting applications can provide significant energy savings, increased lamp life, smaller lamp size, and flexibility in the design. For these reasons, lighting manufacturers are increasingly interested in unique lighting fixtures incorporating light-emitting diodes that may also have appeal to their intended customers.
While providing many benefits, light-emitting diode lighting fixtures can still be time consuming to manufacture and can therefore be expensive. Additionally, the use of solder in the manufacturing process can raise cost and safety concerns. Further, heat dissipation has to be addressed with light-emitting diodes.